Mission High School (San Francisco) Explained

Mission High School
Streetaddress:3750 18th Street
Zipcode:94114
Country:US
Pushpin Map:United States San Francisco Central#San Francisco Bay Area#California#USA
Established:1890[1]
Administrator:Valerie Forero
Principal Label2:Assistant Principals
Principal2:Callen Taylor
Sofia Argueta Moran
Faculty:66[2] (2007-8)
Grades:9-13
Enrollment:1,076 (2016-17)
Graduates:198[3]
Graduates Year:2016
Website:Mission High
Campus:Urban
Teams:Bears

Mission High School is a public high school in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) San Francisco, California.[4]

Serving grades 9-12, Mission is the oldest high school on its original site in San Francisco;[5] it has been on 18th Street, between Dolores and Church, since 1896. The original campus burned in 1922, and the replacement was completed in two stages, the west wing in 1925 and the main building was dedicated by San Francisco mayor James Rolph on June 12, 1927. Originally, girls and boys had separate courtyards. The boys' is overlooked by the "baby tower," about 100feet high, and the girls' (right) topped by a 127feet-high baroque dome. Mission Creek runs beneath the school.

The school is two blocks from Mission Dolores,[6] from which it gets its name. The current student body is diverse, with Latino and Asian students constituting the two largest ethnic groups, although neither group makes up a majority of the student body.[2]

The lobby leads to a theater that has 1,750 folding wooden seats on two levels and a gold-leaf ceiling. Grand as any movie palace, it was outfitted with twin 35 mm projectors. Funding failed to materialize for the elaborate pipe organ system as promised, but the chandeliers have been re-lamped.

History

Mission High School was founded in 1890, although it was housed in various Mission District locations until 1896. That year, the Board of Education purchased a parcel of land from the Jewish Cemetery Association to construct a permanent school building. The original Mission High School building was completed in 1898 as a three-story brick school designed in the Italian Renaissance Beaux-Arts style. The building withstood the 1906 earthquake, and became a neighborhood shelter, while Dolores Park, which stands across the street from the school, became a tent city for displaced residents.

Humboldt Evening High School was a night high school at Mission High School, when it was destroyed by fire.[7]

In 1922, the original Mission High School was destroyed by fire.[8] The present Mission High School complex was then constructed in a California Churrigueresque style between 1925 and 1927, during the height of San Francisco's "Golden Age" of school construction. John W. Reid Jr., San Francisco's City Architect, was the designer.[9] The elaborate ornamentation on the school is likely due in part to the visual proximity to the nearby Mission Dolores Basilica, which features towers and ornamentation in the Churrigueresque architectural style.

In 1936, California artist Edith Anne Hamlin was commissioned under the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project to create a series of western-themed murals for the school.[10] Noted artist Maynard Dixon consulted with Hamlin on the murals, and the pair married in 1937. Two murals showing the founding of nearby Mission Dolores still survive, while the third was lost during a 1970s seismic retrofit. The late 1930s also saw the construction of Drew Athletic Field behind the school, in an area that had been occupied by houses fronting on Dorland Street (that one block of Dorland was removed to construct the field).

Mission High School was retrofitted to meet earthquake safety standards starting in 1972. This included the removal of some of the building's architectural ornamentation, as well as the loss of the WPA Hamlin mural. Students attended Polytechnic High School until their return in 1978. The building continues to function as a public high school and remains an architectural landmark in the Dolores Park area of San Francisco.

In the 2007–08 school year, principal Kevin Truitt won SFUSD Principal of the Year and in 2014 principal Eric Guthertz won the same award.

Statistics

Demographics

According to U.S. News & World Report, 91% of Mission's student body is "of color," with 77% of the student body coming from an economically disadvantaged household, determined by student eligibility for California's Reduced-price meal program.[12]

Standardized Testing

SAT Scores for 2015-16[13]
Reading AverageWriting AverageMath Average
Mission412408444
District474467517
State484477494

Diversity

Mission High school is the first public school to hold an LGBTQ/Drag Show Assembly.[14]

Programs

Mission is the Academic Scholars Advancement Program (ASAP) is a summer program that sends 150 Mission High School athletes attended 31 programs. They traveled to 22 locations in nine states, and a few ventured as far as Japan, China, and Italy. ASAP helps cover the bill to send these kids to a summer program.[15]

Notable alumni and faculty members from Mission High School

Faculty

See also

References

  1. Book: Hooper. Bernadette C.. San Francisco's Mission District. 2006. Aracadia Publishing. 0738546577. 25.
  2. Web site: California School Directory: Mission High. California Department of Education. May 21, 2009.
  3. Web site: Cohort Data Outcomes. CA Dept. of Education. 26 February 2018.
  4. Web site: SFUSD: Mission High School. www.sfusd.edu. en. 2018-10-25.
  5. Web site: Mission High: The School, The Mural, and Now, The Book! - Tacolicious. www.tacolicious.com. en. 2018-10-25.
  6. Book: Rizga, Kristina. Mission High: One School, How Experts Tried to Fail it, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph. 4 August 2015. Nation Books. 978-1568585673. 7.
  7. https://www.opensfhistory.org/osfhcrucible/2020/01/18/mission-high-fire-a-closer-look/
  8. Book: Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association. National Fire Association. 1922. 165.
  9. Web site: PCAD - San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), Mission High School #2, San Francisco, CA. pcad.lib.washington.edu. en. 2018-10-25.
  10. News: Mission High School Murals - San Francisco CA - Living New Deal. Living New Deal. 2018-10-25. en-US.
  11. Web site: Enrollment by Ethnicity and Grade - Mission High School (CA Dept of Education). dq.cde.ca.gov. en. 2017-06-17.
  12. Web site: Mission High Student Body. U.S. News & World Report. February 26, 2018.
  13. Web site: SAT Report (CA Dept of Education). dq.cde.ca.gov. 2018-06-18.
  14. News: What It's Like To Be Gay, Out, Or In Drag At Mission High School. Kukura. Joe. October 26, 2016. SFist. February 26, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20171111114212/http://sfist.com/2016/10/26/what_its_like_to_be_gay_out_or_in_d.php. November 11, 2017. dead.
  15. News: Young men on a mission at Mission High School. DTL. The San Francisco Chronicle. March 15, 2010. Gwen. Knapp. March 9, 2010.
  16. Web site: Mission HS (San Francisco, CA) Baseball Players Baseball-Reference.com. Baseball-Reference.com. en. 2018-02-26.
  17. News: Dorothy Bryant Obituary. December 31, 2017. San Francisco Chronicle. February 26, 2018.
  18. [Jeffrey Cariaso]
  19. Web site: Alumni History.
  20. Web site: Joe Cronin Society for American Baseball Research. sabr.org. en. 2018-02-26.
  21. Web site: Babe Dahlgren Society for American Baseball Research. sabr.org. en. 2018-02-26.
  22. News: Vincent DeDomenico dies - invented Rice-A-Roni, built wine train. San Francisco Chronicle. Julian. Guthrie. October 22, 2007. May 21, 2009. DTL.
  23. Web site: https://www.pressreader.com/usa/san-francisco-chronicle/20170215/282209420610390. PressReader. 2018-02-26.
  24. News: Bobby Freeman, SF's first rock 'n' roll star, dies at 76. SFGate. 2018-02-26.
  25. Web site: Mission High School Has Its Very Own Functioning Museum – Mission High Foundation.
  26. News: Eddie Joost - Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. 2017-03-15. Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. 2018-02-26. en-US.
  27. Web site: Mission High School High School - San Francisco, California - The Baseball Cube. www.thebaseballcube.com. 2018-02-26.
  28. Book: Friedwald, Will. A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers. 2010. Pantheon Books. 9780375421495. en.
  29. Web site: MLS: Lothar Osiander Named New Clash Head Coach. en. 2018-02-26.
  30. Web site: Treasures at Mission High Museum San Francisco History Guidelines Newsletter. www.sfcityguides.org. en. 2018-02-26.
  31. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-congressman-t/129848003/
  32. News: Santana returns to alma mater, guitar blazing. SFGate. 2018-02-26.
  33. Web site: Jorge Santana and Malo: For Real. 19 June 2018.
  34. Web site: Gus Triandos Society for American Baseball Research. sabr.org. en. 2018-02-26.
  35. News: Tireless worker excels at reading political winds. Coté. John. July 3, 2011. SFGATE. February 26, 2018.

External links

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